There has only been one major Worldwide Brands complaint. Worldwide brands has been in business since 1999, and has been an A+ BBB-Accredited Member since 2003. In that time they have only had one major complaint from an unusual individual.
At the end of 2014, an individual took possibly unfair advantage of the Worldwide Brands Directory by contacting “over 500 suppliers” 1 and then requested a refund right around Christmas time. The complainant was informed twice2 that it would take longer than the normal 5 days to issue a refund because Worldwide Brands “had to contact [the suppliers] to verify that [the complainant] was not doing business with them, that it would take longer than 5 days”1.
The Worldwide Brands refund policy is as such:
If you have contacted over 50 suppliers in the time before requesting a refund, we will need to investigate to see if you are actively working with any of those suppliers before issuing a refund. As actively working with our listed suppliers proves satisfaction.3
Here is the official response from Worldwide Brands:
Our terms state that if a member contacts more than 50 suppliers in our Directory, and that member requests a refund, we must contact those suppliers to ensure that an active account isn’t created with them. As an active account shows satisfaction. We provide information, not products so we must protect our intellectual property. This member was told when she submitted her refund, that the normal 5 day wait time would NOT apply in her situation, as she requested a refund during the holidays when we were off work, as well as when many suppliers shut down to celebrate holidays. She was conveyed this twice. We concluded our supplier contacts a few days ago and this member has already been refunded and should be satisfied that she has received her money back.
Outcome
The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.
The complainant was issued a refund as soon as normal business resumed in the new year. Again, this was an unusual case where the complainant had contacted “over 500 suppliers”1 and then requested a refund.